Love

« I wanna make a movie out of blood, sperm, and tears » This film was my introduction to Gaspar Noé, it probably was one of my weirdest cinema experiences. People who consider this to simply be a blunt pornographic provocation, deprived of any other value are simply wrong and do not like art. This movie is an artistic masterpiece. The sex is very carnal at some points and it can destabilise some people. Nevertheless it is filmed in such an intelligent way and confusing it with Pornhub level of pornography must be a crime. Here, sexuality is sometimes calm, explorative, tender, but it also can be frenzied and hyper engaging. It is what punctuates the movie and often parallels the emotional crisis preceding each scene. The way it is filmed also through this hypnotic lens of hot flashes of orange and red just amazes me. Those rapid flashes are so mesmerising, it’s like they can change the scene, you almost see two different things in 1 second intervals and this gives another aspect to the sexuality, separating the actual act of sex and the state of mind during the act. And this reveals the relationship, the connectivity between the two lovers and how it evolves through the storyline which I found was great. Other than sex, which is a big part of the movie, Noé still managed to create a deep and sentimental portrait of Murphy’s complex life. « This place is a cage », said Murphy at the beginning of the film. This was to make us believe that the cage was Omi, his accidental son, his apartment or even his wasted life. However, as the story develops, you realise that Murphy is not prisoner of those things but more of his consuming regret and his attachment to souvenirs. The memories are burning of passion while the present stands still, grey and senseless. Murphy is an immature man who just discovered what love really is (I’m not better off than him in that regard but fine). He can’t accept the consequences of his own desires and blames it on anything or anybody else. How can he try to love his present when he constantly compares it to a souvenir crafted and refined by regret and nostalgia ? In the past he spoke frequently and openly whereas in the present, most of his thoughts are addressed to people but aren’t put into oral form, as if he was ashamed, as if answering his current wife is an act of admission that his past life has nothing to do with his present. This regret is costing Gaspar his life. The way he walks, he sits, he lays, the way he moves around just show how his memories and regret’s paralyse his current life, as much on a physical to mental level. « If you fall in love, really, then you are the loser », Gaspar lost. Overall, loved this movie although you need motivation to go through all the sex scenes that are very present, yes. But you should watch this video trying to ignore the sex itself and focus on how it is filmed and why is it filmed that way. That’s the only way to understand and enjoy the movie. Great family Christmas movie.